Zero Tolerence.

[Dennis1209]

I'm going to bash some segments of our society and make it personal, regardless of the rules and political correctness because I have zero tolerance for arrogance and stupidity. Can you see my index finger extended straight out and pointing and my thumb 90 degrees vertical to it with my other three fingers curled in?

 

Let's start with liberals, career politicians, the immoral and the people running this country into the ground. This just defies common sense and slaps our hero's and defenders in the face and all American's should be ashamed and embarrassed for just the mention of it.

 

I speak of the proposal to cut our retired military veterans cost of living adjustments (COLA'S), pay and benefits, for putting their lives between U.S. and our enemies for 20+ years. How's that for a grateful nation? HO HUM... Let's hurry up and get to the sports results please. Where's America's outrage?

 

A proposal was introduced in Washington to reduce / eliminate wasteful spending for lifetime welfare payments, assisted housing, free cell phones, affordable healthcare, etc.. Riots and chaos have broken out in every major city in America, hundreds of law suites have been filed on the un-constitutional aspect of "for the welfare of the people" clause. MSNBC, the Washington Post, New York Times among dozens of other media outlets are livid about the cruel, discrimatory and unjust action of our government.

 

I take it personally when by force of law, the government takes a large portion of my labor and squanders and wastes it on worthless people, projects and programs. That would not even be possible without our military protecting our way of life and protecting our nation. The federal governments number one constitutional job is to defend this nation. To do so it takes a professional, well trained and loyal military, now they're degrading the service and sacrifice our veterans have given.

 

Just the latest and another example of penalizing the productive and foundation of this country and rewarding the unproductive and scourge of our society I guess.

 

That's my zero tolerance.

 

 

[Bigiron]

Absolutely agree. :up:

[tnguy]

Oh, but they ended the unemployment extension. Which shouldn't have been in place in the first place. And will likely get added back in again.

 

Republican politicians are chumps and by extension, so are those who vote for them.

[partypilot1]

Paying your federal taxes is a great way to show you approve of their spending. There should be another option instead of either pay taxes or go to jail. How much can we take before we break?

[bersaguy]

Megan Kelly explained all of this really well on her segment of Fox News last night. She took it to the Feds hard and heavy to disgrace them in every way she could find but like she said in the end. The Budget will get voted on and approved so they can all go home for holiday. It is a total and complete disgrace what they are doing to our Brave men and women in our military and our Wounded Warriors. You can bet the Congress all got their big raises this year without any cuts. She talked about a parking garage that was started like 5 years ago and was suppose to cost like 5 million and it's costing 150 million which is money being taken away from our troops to complete. She ahd a book written by one of the Congressman that listed to top 30 wasteful things in Government spending which would be more than enough to really cut the budget by 1 trillion dollars that was nothing but wasteful spending. I sincerely hope and pray that in 2014 every incumbent that is up for re-election gets voted out and WE THE PEOPLE teach all of them a lesson on whats on our minds................jmho

[bersaguy]

Paying your federal taxes is a great way to show you approve of their spending. There should be another option instead of either pay taxes or go to jail. How much can we take before we break?

I would love to see everyone just tell their employers to stop taking the money out of their checks and the employers do it. If every American did that they don't have enough IRS agents to enforce 1/2 of 1/10,000th of the American people and even if it only lasted a month it damn sure would get their attention that when WE THE PEOPLE speak we mean business...............jmho

[Spiffy]

Paying your federal taxes is a great way to show you approve of their spending. There should be another option instead of either pay taxes or go to jail. How much can we take before we break?

 

There is a 3rd option.......it's just riskier than the other 2.

[Guest TNSovereignty]

Well, I'm one of the ones that just got slapped down.  I'm not at all surprised, and hope none of you are either.  We all need to understand something ... politicians never lie, they just make the truth change.  Those of us who believe in true-truth, unchanging truth, universal truth ... we're a dying breed being eaten alive by the relativists.  

[Guest TankerHC]

When I retired 12 years ago I was sitting around the VFW with some old(er) guys, two Navy Vets, one was the Post Commander who served in Korea, the other was a VN Vet that served in the South China Sea, one was a WWII Vet just sitting there drinking his beer and not saying anything and the other was a Marine who lost a leg in Vietnam from a mine. I had just retired and we got on the subject of Veterans pensions and Retirees. I was bitchin about something and they kind of looked at each other, the Marine looked at me and said "Well, that didn't take long, welcome to the club and get used to it, because it never changes"

 

The loss of Prime for retirees came from John McCain, I have been warning friends about this for 3 years because 3 years ago is when John McCain started that ball rolling. 

 

Obviously it was a Republican and so called Conservative that cost us part of our pensions and reduced benefits to wounded warriors. But that's not all he did, the day after I watched his interview with his Liberal lackey and watched as he threw in Veterans pensions with the waste. "The cuts we made reduce WASTE by 27 billion. too bad the sorry mf'r didnt tell the American people that to save 27 billion cost them 7 Trillion and handed Obama and the Congress all they wanted to spend. Forget the money, that scrawny little worthless POS took over 20 years of mine and many others lives, and Veterans who put everything on the line, and cost them and threw us all in with the "Waste". Those Veterans who died for that sorry worthless POS, as far as I am concerned, he threw them in with the waste as well, they just are not here to speak up. 

 

And yet that's not all, Retiree's need to take a look at their current Retiree account statements, bottom left corner. It;s pennies, per Retiree and P&T Vets, but every Veterans check will no longer be rounded off, it will be rounded down. Nice way to save "Collect" several billion more from Veterans. 

 

Then I see Reid, "Other Government Employees have been paying up, its time the Veterans start paying up, they have never had to pay anything". I don't know where the hell that idiot has been, but the Veterans have paid more than anyone, period. I was a VFW VSO, I worked to help Vets through the VA system, plenty of them, I don't know a whole lot of Civilians who lost legs, arms their mental health and take 30 pills a day just to try and ease their pain. And Boehner agrees with him. And since when did "Government employees" lose any damn thing. This last shutdown resulted in a paid vacation and there is a bill on the burner now to give them a bonus as well as make all Government employees "Essential" so they cannot be sent home in the event of another so called "shutdown" which didn't shut anything down but was used for political gain by the leftists.

 

Then I have been hearing how we don't pay taxes. i do not know where these fricken people have been, don't know about you guys, but I started paying taxes when I was 16 and it has never stopped. Military pay is taxable income, retiree pay is taxable income, even if you get disability your retiree pay is still taxable income.

 

Free medical care for retirees and their families? Free medical care for DAV families? Someone tell me where I can get that. I know the rules, DAV families getting free care is rare, it usually occurs after your dead, when she becomes eligible, IF you received a pension. 

 

And then there's the "Well you volunteered". Well who the F drafted you to work at Walmart? And this great job where everyone sits around doing nothing for years waiting to get deployed to combat, with all these freebies and this super high pay. Well where the f were you at? How the hell could anyone POSSIBLY turn down a high paying job with tons of freebies and all you have to do is nothing but wait for a war that's never going to come? Well guess what, someone had to do it or your asses would be bi-lingual in Russian and English. 

 

These sorry SOB's reduced Veterans benefits while keeping the money to pay welfare to illegals. A million dollars in the budget so the Center for the Creative Arts can study Romance novels, money left in to cover the Farm Bill which isn't a farm bill at all, its a trillion dollar bill and 80% of it is for food stamps, more welfare. Did they cut civilian government workers? NO. The cuts only apply to new hires. Tons of pork, broke the spending caps set in 2011 for two years by 63 billion each year, allowable spending of over 7 trillion more, and now they are concerned Boehner is going to do a deal with the Democrats around the bill to increase funding for extended unemployment benefits, again. 

 

I get an email from the RNC telling me how this shows Ryan and all the other Conservatives are "Maturing" into real politicians. Well thanks for updating me on the obvious, they are becoming REAL Politicians. Just what we need, more "career" Politicians, well that letter was sent to the wrong guy. The RNC did get a response. To these Politicians, and they have made it clear, Veterans are throwaway, "waste". Not one of those worthless SOB's in Washington would make a pimple on a good Privates ass. 

 

One of the real problems, all the way up through the early 70's, I believe the number was greater than 80% of Congress were Veterans, today 15%,  we haven't had a President in over 20 years who was a real Veteran. Another, there are far too many Veterans organizations going in different directions, there is an umbrella organization, but that focus is on getting assistance for Veterans, wounded Vet's should not have to rely on handouts. Walk into ANY VA office, clinic , hospital, "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, for his widow and orphan", that's their motto, directly from Lincolns second inaugural address. So why is the Government still, even 100 years after the Bonus Army fiasco, still taking giant dumps on Veterans so they can stay in office? Precisely that, so they can stay in office. Political maneuvering against those who have borne the battle because "f them, that's why".

 

Since this White House occupier has been in office we Veterans have been called extremists, potential domestic terrorists, criminals, our current Vets have been called war criminals, have been targeted beyond all others for removal of second amendment rights based on "potential" mental health issues that in no way would affect a Veterans ability to do anything, and all from the lackeys for the White House occupier, especially John Kerry who used his ignorance twice, against his own fellow Vietnam Veterans 40 years ago, and only several years ago against our current troops. 

 

The way the left "gets out the vote", Veterans need to do the same thing, there needs to be a National movement to get every vet to the polls possible, there are 22 million Veterans in the US right now and we vote right along the same percentages, only slightly higher than the general population which runs around 35% by Party.

 

Veterans have the power to change everything. They need to use it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 20, 2013 by TankerHC

[Raoul]

We as a nation have never held our veterans in high regard, except to throw them a parade once a year.

[tnguy]

I don't really understand (well I do but bear with me) why it's at the whim of politicians anyway. Benefits are part of the compensation package and should be settled *when you sign up*. There should be no government fiddling with it after that point. If they want to adjust what they will offer to those who are yet to sign up, fine but no backsies.

[tnguy]

We as a nation have never held our veterans in high regard, except to throw them a parade once a year.

 

I am sure you realize that's not for the veterans, right?

[Guest TNSovereignty]

I don't really understand (well I do but bear with me) why it's at the whim of politicians anyway. Benefits are part of the compensation package and should be settled *when you sign up*. There should be no government fiddling with it after that point. If they want to adjust what they will offer to those who are yet to sign up, fine but no backsies.

Good thoughts ... I'm w/ you, but there's no 'ideal' in Congress.  It's ALL whim.

 

Great thoughts from TankerHC on this.  I'm only 'retired' for 4 years, but have observed my Dad, now 83, who retired in 1974 after 30 years service.  I've observed his benefits, once a robust package of 'guarantees', to be whittled away, bit by bit.  At the same time I've observed the benefit packages of illegal immigrants, vagrants, and the parasite-class to continually expand.  And people wonder why I'm a curmudgeon in my 40s.

 

With the understanding that there's no perfect justice on this earth, I look forward to eternity righting all these wrongs.  And for the likes of John McCain, et al, it will be a

L-O-N-G eternity.

[blueghost]

[quote name="bersaguy" post="1080709" timestamp="1387384041"]I would love to see everyone just tell their employers to stop taking the money out of their checks and the employers do it. If every American did that they don't have enough IRS agents to enforce 1/2 of 1/10,000th of the American people and even if it only lasted a month it damn sure would get their attention that when WE THE PEOPLE speak we mean business...............jmho[/quote] The Government wouldn't need IRS agents to directly enforce the tax code if that many Americans decided to not pay. The Government could simply freeze the bank accounts. Since commerce is pretty much electronic anyway, freezing wouldn't be hard to do.

[tnguy]

We should all insist on being paid in precious metals and Bitcoin.

[Guest TankerHC]

I don't really understand (well I do but bear with me) why it's at the whim of politicians anyway. Benefits are part of the compensation package and should be settled *when you sign up*. There should be no government fiddling with it after that point. If they want to adjust what they will offer to those who are yet to sign up, fine but no backsies.

 

I can explain that one easily. And I knew this when I re-enlisted the first time and the next four times, because a wise old 3 war, 4 branch CSM who was preparing to retire made sure I knew it in 1982 The Army, the Military, doesn't do promises, they do Contracts. Legal, binding, Government attorney written contracts. The reason those older Vet's went to Tricare for Life for example when the Government was getting ready to take away their Tricare and move them to Medicare was because they WERE made "promises" in their contracts, the Government corrected that by the late 70's, maybe 1980. Those contracts are written so that there is no mistake of "Promises", Everything that's promised is "at will", and that's at the will of Uncle Sam, not our "at will". There are no guarantee's, troops are not even guaranteed they can stay in the military longer than 5 minutes after they sign up and raise their right hand. If Uncle Sam doesn't need you, your gone. The only person who MIGHT make a promise, is your recruiter, and unfortunately, a recruiters promise is not a binding contract.

 

Thats why it's called "selfless service". Your perform "selfless service" and you are promised "nothing" in return. Personally, yes, I like my money, but what p's me off more than them grabbing benefits, is to sit and watch TV and watch people like Obama, and Sebelius and Jarret  call Veterans extremists, potential domestic terrorists and other BS, it pisses me off to see a scumbag like Harry Reid stand on National TV and say that Veterans have never paid anything and its time they start paying instead of taking from other Government workers. Reid who has done nothing his entire life but live off taxpayers dollars while taking from those who have done something, and then Boehner agrees with him, and then I see this BS around the web and on the forums about how this is a good compromise. Well the fact is 97% of civilians do not have a dog in this hunt and neither do 85% of the Politicians in Washingtin and the CINC has never done a damn thing, nothing, he sits in the White House by the ignornace of ignorant Americans, they have no clue what goes on from Reveille to Retreat, no idea what goes on in a motor pool, no idea the number of injuries and the severity of injuries a Veteran sustains in the course of a normal duty day not to mention combat where they lose limbs, mental capacity and DIE, they have ZERO clue. They have put themselves in the game, and yes, it is greatly appreciated by all Veterans, however there is such a thing as over compensating with emotion. That is why there are 1000 different organizations today, they are trying to make up for what they did to those VN Vets. Which absolutely was a GD disgrace. But the reality is this, no amount of Yellow Ribbons, "free" wheelchair ramps, and "free" prosthetics' is going to put food in the mouth's of the children of a Veteran who cannot work due to injuries sustained while serving his or her Country. These are Veterans in need, and it's a real need, but the jackasses in Washington feel the real need lies not with the very people who served, fought and were disabled before they even reached 40, that need lies with getting illegal aliens legalized and getting them their welfare benefits. 

 

There is a reverse side to that coin. Even though we are promised nothing, our Government has an MORAL obligation to take care of it's soldier's after all is said and done. And they are not and have not done it. 

Politicians are lower than pond scum, and it is coming back now to bite them in the ass. The outrage I am seeing goes far beyond anything I have ever personally seen, and not by the civilian population either, by the Veterans themselves. Those Politicians are trying to put it off on the Generals. "The brass at the Pentagon asked for it". Well here is the reality on that one. Those men at the Pentagon running this thing are good men. They didnt "ask for it". They were forced into it by the Politicians. Those Generals have spent their lives in the service of their Country, 35 and 40 years. And they are tasked with this Countries defense and fighting it's wars. But rather than give the Generals the money to do the job, they give it to people who are not even citizens, then they tell them "here is what you have, defend the Country". When Generals speak up and tell Congress we do not need the Littoral Combat Ship, it costs too much and serves no specific mission. The response they get is "Well this ship is built by companies with representation in all 50 states, find a mission for it". Because Politicians know better what the military needs than the Generals. So after the Politicians tell the Generals "This is all your getting, adjust" and then come back and tell the Generals, were making cuts, your first and most. Being tasked and charged with defending the Country, where is the only place that money can come from? US. That has nothing to do with the Generals, they are upholding their oath, I know plenty who wore Birds and Stars, I do not know a single one of them who wants to crap all over the men that served under them, but Politicians leave them no choice and now that their ass is in a sling, they are coming up with "The Brass at the Pentagon asked for it". 

 

General Shinseki, another good man, and a great General. Every time something gets screwed up with the VA it is on his shoulders, Politicians will not take responsibility for their actions. Shinseki does. As a General Shinseki led a well disciplined Army, moving over to the VA, Shinseki runs an organization that likes to spend millions of dollars on outings, spread out over 50 States, half a dozen territories and several Foreign Countries run by Government Bureaucrats at the local level. There are good people at the VA, there is also a lot of pond scum. When dealing with the VA, 7 times out of 10 you will not be dealing with someone who has put on a Uniform. Why? Because the VA hiring Vets and the 10 point Vets preference believed by what appears to be every Civilian I have ever spoke with is another myth. Yes, you get a 10 point preference. But if you apply for a job at the VA, and someone within the VA system, who is not a Vet applies for the same job to move up, as long as they have 3 years at the VA, your 10 point preference is null and void. The Civilian takes priority. Take a look at any VA at the mid level management, upper level management and then look and see who is mopping the floors, washing the dishes and doing the maintenance man work at a GS3 or 5 level. 

 

I dont usually go off on tangents about Veterans issues because the truth is those who arenot have other things to worry about and Veterans can only take care of themselves, no one is going to do it for them. But what made me very aware of the situation, in 1991 at Thanksgiving, the NCOA and the Oddfellows in Colorado Springs held a Thanksgiving Dinner for Homeless Vets, I was put in charge of building, vehicle and sme other organizational things. We had Veteran owned business donate new vans for the use of picking up homeless Vets, Veteran owned businesses also supplied food, and a local Vet DJ broadcast coninuously for a week prior to Thanksgiving. NCO's and Officers put on their Blues for Thanksgiving and served dinner, A Vet was Sanata Claus in case any kids showed up, the VN Vet CSM's put on old fatigues and field jackets with their Combat patches so they could maybe find some of the VN Vets, anyway the whole thing. I personally thought we were putting to much into it, it was taking a lot of time and a lot of money was being spent and I figured by the end of it we would be stuck trying to dispose of all this food. 

 

It began on Thanksgiving morning, we didnt completely finish until Sunday afternoon. We picked up over 800 homeless Veterans and 1200 family members. In one City, and not even a big city, Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas, Manitou, Old Colorado City. 2000 people who had served their Country, whose families had taken on the burden that military families take on, from every war from WWII to Desert Storm and everything in between. Living in cardboard shacks, broken down buses, entire families of retired NCO's, NCO, wife, kids, living in freaking one room drug infested broken down hotels. Officers, you may not believe it but it is true, former Captains, College Degrees, living in broken down hotels because they were disabled, couldnt get hired or when they found a job is was very minimal. 

 

And not a damn thing has actually changed. Three years ago the homeless Veteran Initiative was started, and was being talked about, today Shinseki is doing what he can with what he has, that VA budget comes out of the defense budget and when the defense budget gets cut, SOMEWHERE there has to be cuts across the entire spectrum, even if they say there are not, there are. For the most part, it's still  being "talked about".

 

I think Rep. Huelskamp made it perfectly clear and outed Reid a couple of months ago in front of the House Veterans Affairs Committee when he proposed that Reid hates Veterans, well he was right, Reid hates Veterans, and I and the Veterans I know cant stand his ass either. 

[Randall53]

The sad part is, after the left wing conservatives (aka McCain {PIG ASS} and his cronies) pass an amnesty bill giving their liberal buddies 20 to 40 million (all liberals vote twice...even Obama) more votes, then pass gay "marriage" (ain't no such thing really) laws to give the libs another 6% of the voting population, the USA will be a one party political country, and it's the anti gun, anti military, anti freedom scum that will run this country into oblivion.

And YES it pisses me off. To no FREAK'N end!!!!! My son is somewhere in the Middle East right now and can't even tell us where..!!! While they trash what he does over here. Edited December 21, 2013 by Randall53

[tnguy]

Tanker, I take one exception to what you say. The treatment of vets is very much the concern of non-vets as I am sure those currently in and considering entering the military are keeping a good eye on what is in store for them.

[Guest TankerHC]

Told ya. President signs the bill into law. Ryan says he and Hagel made a mistake in not protecting the retirees on disability, Ryan blames the Defense Department. Completely predictable.

 

http://www.military.com/benefits/2013/12/26/hagel-ryan-defend-retiree-cola-caps.html